CHAPTER FIVE THE DEPLORABLE WORD（第2/4页）

She did tell them certain things as they went along：“That is the door to the dungeons，”she would say，or“That passage leads to the principal torture chambers，”or“This was the old banqueting hall where my great—grandfather bade seven hundred nobles to a feast and killed them all before they had drunk their fill． They had had rebellious thoughts．”

They came at last into a hall larger and loftier than any they had yet seen．From its size and from the great doors at the far end， Digory thought that now at last they must be coming to the main entrance．In this he was quite right．The doors were dead black， either ebony or some black metal which is not found in our world． They were fastened with great bars，most of them too high to reach and all too heavy to lift．He wondered how they would get out．

The Queen let go of his hand and raised her arm．She drew herself up to her full height and stood rigid．Then she said something which they couldn’t understand（but it sounded horrid） and made an action as if she were throwing something towards the doors．And those high and heavy doors trembled for a second as if they were made of silk and then crumbled away till there was nothing left of them but a heap of dust on the threshold．

“Whew ！”whistled Digory．

“Has your master magician，your uncle，power like mine ？”asked the Queen，firmly seizing Digorg’s hand again．“But I shall know later．In the meantime，remember what you have seen．This is what happens to things，and to people，who stand in my way．”

Much more light than they had yet seen in that country was pouring in through the now empty doorway，and when the Queen led them out through it they were not surprised to find themselves in the open air．The wind that blew in their faces was cold，yet somehow stale．They were looking from a high terrace and there was a great landscape spread out below them．

Low down and near the horizon hung a great，red sun，far bigger than our sun．Digory felt at once that it was also older than ours：a sun near the end of its life，weary of looking down upon that world．To the left of the sun，and higher up，there was a single star，big and bright．Those were the only two things to be seen in the dark sky；they made a dismal group．And on the earth， in every direction，as far as the eye could reach，there spread a vast city in which there was no living thing to be seen．And all the temples，towers，palaces，pyramids，and bridges cast long， disastrous-looking shadows in the light of that withered sun．Once a great river had flowed through the city，but the water had long since vanished，and it was now only a wide ditch of grey dust．

“Look well on that which no eyes will ever see again，”said the Queen．“Such was Charn，that great city，the city of the King of Kings，the wonder of the world，perhaps of all worlds．Does your uncle rule any city as great as this，boy ？”

“No，”said Digory．He was going to explain that Uncle Andrew didn’t rule any cities，but the Queen went on：

“It is silent now．But I have stood here when the whole air was full of the noises of Charn；the trampling of feet，the creaking of wheels，the cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves，the thunder of chariots，and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples． I have stood here（but that was near the end）when the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red．”She paused and added，“All in one moment one woman blotted it out for ever．”

“Who ？”said Digory in a faint voice；but he had already guessed the answer．

“I，”said the Queen．“I，Jadis the last Queen，but the Queen of the World．”

The two children stood silent，shivering in the cold wind．

“It was my sister’s fault，”said the Queen．“She drove me to it． May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever ！ At any moment I was ready to make peace-yes and to spare her life too，if only she would yield me the throne．But she would not．Her pride has destroyed the whole world．Even after the war had begun，there was a solemn promise that neither side would use Magic．But when she broke her promise， what could I do ？ Fool ！ As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she ！ She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word． Did she think-she was always a weakling-that I would not use it ？”